San Francisco parks score a B

San Francisco’s public parks have improved slightly, but the worst ones remain in the city’s poorest neighborhoods, according to a new report from the city Controller’s office.

Overall, the city’s parks scored better in this year’s annual review, scoring an average of 86.2 percent compared to last year’s 83.7 percent. In other words, they’re still a solid B.

The Chronicle

McLaren Park gets a C-minus

But of the 10 worst performing parks, half are concentrated in Bayview-Hunters Point (District 10) and Outer Mission-Ingleside (District 11). The Bayview parks received the lowest average score of any district and several of its parks scored significantly lower that last year.

“Generally, we’re pleased that the parks are improving,” said Lisa Seitz Gruwell, spokeswoman for the Recreation & Parks Department, which manages the city’s 240 parks. “There are still some parks that need work. That’s definitely where we need to focus more.”

The report, released earlier this week, rates each of the city’s parks for the last fiscal year. It graded them on the condition of their trees, lawns, benches and play areas.

The report also said inspections had found city gardeners were not at parks where they were scheduled to be working as much as 60 percent of the time. The report urged the department to adopt a better system to track staff compliance with scheduling.

Seitz Gruell downplayed the problem of missing gardeners, saying the absentee figure results partly from responding to citizen concerns at other locations and partly from short-staffing. Very few are blowing off their jobs.

“It was a rampant problem a few years ago, but we have it under control now,” she said.